Malcolm McDowell Can’t Stomach Watching Clockwork Orange Again

Screenrant ^ | Nathan Graham

[Cronos]

In a recent interview, veteran actor Malcolm McDowell has revealed he cannot stomach rewatching his 1971 dystopian crime film, A Clockwork Orange. The film was adapted from Anthony Burgess's 1962 novel about a disturbingly violent gang of youths in an alternate near-future Britain. McDowell played the violent delinquent Alex DeLarge in the infamous and controversial film directed by Stanley Kubrick.

It follows Alex, leader of his gang known as the Droogs. Following a series of drug-induced fights with another gang and various disturbing and brutal assaults, Alex is arrested and imprisoned for his crimes, before being subjected to an experimental form of therapy to make him averse to his former violence. A Clockwork Orange celebrates its 50th anniversary this year with a 4K rerelease, but originally, the film was met with bans upon its release due to the levels of violence and brutality on screen, an aspect which its star still struggles with.

McDowell revealed that he still finds it difficult to rewatch, stating that he cannot stomach sitting through the film despite the time that has passed. McDowell elaborated that despite any updates in quality the film might have received, it still holds the same violent content that made the film infamous upon its release, though he is proud of the impact it has made since last time he watched the film was during a screening at the Cannes Film Festival to celebrate its 40th Anniversary alongside Warner Bro's executives, before saying how glad he was that he could avoid similar screenings for the latest milestone.

...Despite becoming a film of historical significance , A Clockwork Orange had a complex and controversial history. Upon release, the film was met by polarizing reviews for its depictions of graphic violence and sexual assault, as well as condemnation from different groups,

[Clutch Martin]

A Clockwork Orange might have been the Gen BOOMERS II first look at a boob shot on the silver-screen... just sayin’

But... it did introduce a younger crowd to Ludwig von...

[Clutch Martin]

“all of Stanely Kubricks films are with the exception of Eyes Wide Shut (which I thought was absolute sh*t).”

I was on the road doing antenna site surveys for a couple of years when “Eyes Wide Shut” came out and it was on HBO at the time.

Most of the hotels that I ended up staying in some of the bigger cities had cable, and if they had cable some of them even had HBO. I must have watched that movie 9 or 10 times during that leg of the site survey trip and I still didn’t get it... but I made an effort to because there really wasn’t much else to do when you’re on the road in a hotel room and you got HBO and a dog pile of reports to complete and submit before you hit the road in the morning.